An atomizer has been already known as an instrument used for treating the nose and throat, and this kind of atomizer is, for example, utilized for treating primary catarrh, allergic rhinitis, etc. An atomizer used for such a therapy is such that heat or vibration is given to liquefied medicine in order to atomize the same and a patient is caused to inhale the same.
Furthermore, structural examples of these kinds of handy type atomizers are disclosed in, for example, Japanese laid-open utility model publications Nos. 51541 of 1983, 109545 of 1986, 75750 of 1990, etc. Generally, such a kind of atomizer is basically provided with a medicine atomizing means such as a ultrasonic vibrator, a heater, etc., a nozzle for discharging the atomized medicine outside, a feeding means for sending the atomized medicine toward said nozzle, for example, an electric fan.
With an atomizer having such a structure, medicine is usually atomized to be of several microns and is discharged through a nozzle. However, at this time, the following technical themes have been pointed out in the conventional atomizers.
That is, with conventional atomizers including the abovementioned disclosed in the above publications, they are constructed so that medicine atomized by a medicine atomizing means is discharged outside as it is. However, for example, since the atomized quantity of medicine is very little immediately after commencing the use, the medicine contained in an air flow coming from a feeding means becomes remarkably thin. Generally, these kinds of atomizers are provided with a timer and are constructed so that the same is able to operate during the period of time set by the timer. Therefore, if the timer period is set, including a thin state of medicine, there was a shortcoming where the medicine does not display its effect to the degree expected.
In this case, for example, although it is possible to cause a patient to inhale an appointed liquefied medicine without the inhalation of the atomized medicine commenced immediately after the use of an atomizer but somewhat delayed an appointed duration of time. With such a means, some medicine is uselessly consumed. The present invention was developed in view of solving these shortcomings, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an atomizer which is able to uniformly disperse the atomized medicine and effectively cause a patient to inhale the same.